Trial begins for ironworkers union boss

Union ironworkers called it “night work,” but it had nothing to do with pulling a night shift on a construction job.

“It was just people taking a welder’s torch, breaking bolts, destroying, cutting,” said union ironworker William J. Gillin.

More important, Gillin told a federal jury Monday, the after-hours attacks on nonunion job sites were the way to show loyalty and get ahead in Philadelphia’s Local 401.

Members who did night work seemed to always get regular work, even in the leanest of times and usually the most lucrative assignments.